09 February, 2010

Four of us braved the icy and unplowed streets and reached VO world headquarters today. Heidi, Annette, and Kyle managed to pack and ship all the orders that came in over the weekend and they're still working on those from Monday and today. But with another snowstorm predicted for tonight we'll almost certainly be closed tomorrow. Poor Tom, who lives about a mile from the Capital building in Washington DC, has still not seen a plow on his street. My street was plowed last night only after I stopped a plow driver and asked.

In other news, we now have some very well engineered Porteur double kickstands. If you ride a heavily loaded bike a double leg kickstand is almost essential. We saw the prototypes for this design 11 months ago and were very impressed. We ordered them immediately. The Porteur kickstands are designed for delivery bikes, city bikes and the like. They are made by a company that manufactures a lot of racks and accessories for Japanese and European city bikes.

The neat feature is that the two legs spread as the kickstand is deployed and close as it's raised. This makes for a very stable stand that does not interfere with pedaling. The leg extensions, which look like rubber boots, can be adjusted by twisting and pulling or pushing, so the legs are the perfect length without cutting. An allen wrench can lock them to whatever length you set. There are also adjustments to perfectly align the stand when it's raised.

Though these may not be quite as elegant as the Swiss Pletcsher stand that we also stock, they are more adjustable and half the price at $26.

28 comments:

I hate to ask, but do you have any more pcitures of these beauties? I would especially like to see some pcitures of them installed, both in the "up" and "down" positions. When "up", as they wide enough to fit around a decent sized tire?

They will clear a very large tire. No photos or measurements until we're plowed out again, probably thursday. We put one on a prototype bike and everyone thought it worked very well. They are a bit larger and more industrial looking than most kickstands, but that's the whole point. Being alloy they are not terribly heavy.

With all the snow you've been having has there been any word on a delivery date for the Snowplow attachment that was designed for the Porteur bikes ? You know, the one with the elegant French-inspired curve at the very bottom of the plow blade.

I have one of those double-leg Pletcher kickstands on my P/R Porteur. It is terrific. Chris is absolutely right, this type of kickstand is perfect for this kind of bike. Here http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916047@N00/3762682913/in/set-72157621865874116/ is a photo of the bike. (Note also the VO Belleville bars and VO stem and the inverse brake levers -- all perfect for this kind of bike.)

1. This new stand has rubber feet, so you can park it indoors. The Pletcsher doesn't and while you can buy rubber feet for them, they should be included in the price. The fact that this stand has rubber feet is a win.

2. I run Schwalbe Big Apple tires, 50-622 (on 700 rims). With a 50mm wide tire, the Pletcsher rubs a bit when you drop or lift the stand as it travels past the wheel. I solved the problem simply, by mounting the stand so that the clamp area is bounded by an strip of old innertube. That lets you mount the stand such that if you retain it with a nyloc nut, there is some lateral play in the stand, so that you can adjust it to swing without rubbing the tire. I usually have to kick the stand in after retraction so it doesn't hit the left crankarm. It works better than you think.

One product that I would like to see developed is a very lightweight, svelte, tubular double kickstand for randonneur bikes. The Pletscher stands, as well as your new imports, are far too heavy for such duty -- after all, they are designed to hold up heavily loaded porteurs. But the ability to park a randonneur without leaning it up against something could be invaluable. I carry, in my handlebar bag, a ClickStand, which works great but isn't as quick as a regular kickstand would be.

Forget Pletscher stands, unless you have a very rigid bike or some sort of clamp to hold the bars in line with the frame.Took my stand off after it fell over destroying my lights and Sigma 1106.Had full panniers on the back and a rack bag, no load up front.A strong wind blew it over while taking photos.These look like another european stand,like to know how they go.

I weighed both double kickstands and the new Porteur stand weighs about 60g more. They are wider when deployed, by an inch or so if you include the "toes" on the extensions. The legs are also considerably longer at full extension, which may be important on long-tail bikes.

I don't think I'm the only one who was unhappy with the Pletscher doubles. I had one on my bike with a big basket. It was great, until I load it up. Any slightly heavier load would pull the bars to the side and the bike would tip over. I've tried using toe straps to stabilize the bars, but it was too inconvenient. I can easily find a place to lean my bike against for the time it takes.

In defense of the Pletscher double:when properly trimmed, your parked bike has 4 points of contact with level ground. Technically, these are frame-stands, so if you load up your bars/basket/fork -the load is free to pivot on your head set. Wind dump your bike? Don't worry, you won't fall for that one again.

Do these new kickstands work with the Polyvalent frame? I just discovered that the Plestcher double-legged kickstand does not fit in the kickstand plate on the Polyvalent -- the flanges on the plate are too close together for it.

I know just enough to not use the top clamp with a kickstand plate :-)

OK, my bad - I tried again this morning and got it in. I was trying to slide it in from the side yesterday to align the bolt hole, and the left side of the kickstand is slightly larger than the right - going in that direction it hits the flange and won't slide all the way in. The flanges on the kickstand plate on my Kogswell P/R are anemic little twigs compared to flanges on the PV's plate and never came close. Ah well, lesson learned.

You could try adjusting the leg length. There is also two set screws on the part that attaches to the stays. Loosen the small one off and then turn the larger one to adjust the angle of the legs up or down. When you have it in the right spot, tighten the small set screw again to hold it in place.